Microsoft releases patches for December

Microsoft has released its monthly set of security patches, fixing critical flaws in the Windows desktop.

The December updates released Tuesday include critical fixes for Internet Explorer, DirectX and the Windows Media Format technology. Security experts say that the most important of these updates is the Internet Explorer patch, because it fixes four separate bugs in the browser. One of these flaws, relating to the way the browser renders dynamic HTML (DHTML) pages, has been exploited in online attacks, Microsoft said.

All of the browser vulnerabilities in this update are rated critical -- Microsoft's most serious rating -- for IE 7 users running on the latest version of Windows XP, Microsoft said.

Though Microsoft has assigned it the less-grave rating of "important," a patch for Macrovision copy-protection software that ships with Windows should also be given priority, security experts say. That's because criminals have already leveraged this bug in online attacks.


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